Short Order Blog

A New Bakery Opens on Meadow Street

Red Cap Patisserie has found a home for its French-inspired pastries.

Tyler DardenA few of the pastries offered at the new bakery Red Cap Patisserie.

There’s a new bakery opening the doors of an old one. Red Cap Patisserie is taking over the former Lucille’s Bakery at 719 N. Meadow St.

You already may be familiar with its wares. Owner Martine Wladar has been selling her French pastries — most notably, savory tourtieres that she describes as “handheld pastry pies filled with a variety of distinct regional French flavors” — at the Lab at Alchemy and the Farmers Market at St. Stephen’s.

Wladar has an impressive background. She began her career as a pastry chef after culinary school with Jacques Torres at Le Cirque. Other Manhattan restaurant and catering gigs followed, until Wladar, along with her husband, John, moved to Richmond in 2013.

And the name? The pastry chef says that it comes from the hats that 18th-century French revolutionaries wore — the bonnet rouge was a symbol of liberty.

That’s how Wladar sees her goods. Although French-inspired, she also plays around with and expands on the flavors and technique of traditional pastry.

“We wanted to continue building on something rooted in the idea of 'pastry' and 'bakery,'" Wladar said in news release, “but that also provided ample room for us to experiment and offer more unique and nuanced French- and European-inspired items.”